France | Paris | Sainte-Chapelle | Aug 2012

Ethereal and magical, Sainte-Chapelle has been hailed as one of the greatest architectural masterpieces of the Western world. In the Middle Ages the devout likened this church to "a gateway to heaven". Today no visitor can fail to be transported by the blaze of light created by the 15 magnificent stained glass windows, separated by pencil-like columns soaring 50 ft (15 m) to the star-studded roof. The windows portray more than 1,000 biblical scenes in a kaleidoscope of red, gold, green and blue.

The chapel was completed in 1248 by Louis IX to house what was believed to be Christ's Crown of Thorns and fragment of the True Cross (now in the treasury at Notre Dame).